Landscape architect Russ Bryan discusses the Campus Beautification Campaign on Monday at the University of Southern Mississippi. / Ryan Moore/Hattiesburg American

Written by

American Staff Writer

Officials announce beautification project and fund-raising campaign

Restoring Southern Miss

Plans for the project are available at the Southern Miss website for public view and comment through April 20 at www.usm.edu/physical-plant. For more information on the USM Foundation campaign to fund the project, go to www.usmfoundation.com/restore.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

For a brief moment Monday afternoon, a gust of wind whipped up and knocked down the plans for the University of Southern Mississippi’s landscaping restoration project.

It was, perhaps, a gentle reminder on this sunny afternoon of February’s devastating tornado that abruptly made these plans a necessity.

“It is really hard to believe on a day like today of what happened on this campus on that Sunday afternoon in February,” President Rodney Bennett told spectators assembled on the campus front lawn.

“We have been so fortunate and so blessed to be able to get to this point in restoring our campus,” said Bennett, paying tribute to campus faculty, students and staff who helped clean up the campus. “But we’re not quite across the finish line yet.”

The multi-year, multi-phase $3 million campus beautification project is the next step in restoring a campus that endured damaged buildings, 75 downed trees and debris cluttering its grounds.

Spearheaded by landscape architect Russ Bryan of Neel-Schaffer Inc., the project will add additional sidewalks, plant 130 trees and increase the size of Lake Byron while giving that body of water the ability to temporarily retain storm water for irrigation purposes.

Phase one, known as the Gateway Phase, will kick off at the end of April by planting five large-specimen trees approximately 50 feet tall and 40 feet wide around the gateway to the university.

“It will be substantially completed by graduation,” said Bryan.

The remaining phases will depend on funding, which will come primarily through private donors.

So far, Southern Miss has received $6 million as part of an advance of its total insurance claim, according to Chad Driskell, executive assistant to the president for external affairs.

However, the university was only able to receive $250,000 in coverage for its damaged campus landscape.

So the USM Foundation has set up a Southern Miss Campus Beautification Campaign that will provide the lion’s share of the funding.

Jerry DeFatta, executive director of the Southern Miss Alumni Association, announced a $100,000 commitment from the Alumni Association to kick-start the campaign.

Additionally, $150,000 of the $270,000 raised by the Southern Miss emergency relief fund also will go to the restoration project.

There may be a student fundraising component as well. Junior Ned Nelson, the Interfraternity Council president who spearheaded the campus cleanup immediately following the tornado, said that he pitched the idea to school officials Monday of having campus student organizations raise money the campaign.

“I’m excited to see the project take off and take shape,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get students plugged in and contributing as well.”